A method, apparatus, and information bearing medium for merging display items in encoded form involve providing display items to be merged in an encoded format, such as a run length encoded format (e.g., modified enhanced run length encoded format). The display items are examined on the basis of item priority. A target item having a target area is defined. The display items in the target area are merged according to item priority to produce the target item. The target item is representative of the merged display items. The encoded data associated with the display items to be merged includes control data and color data. In one embodiment, tokens are produced using the encoded data associated with the display items to be merged. The display items are merged using the tokens. The tokens represent counts of repeated data or pointers to pass-thru data associated with the display items to be merged.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of merging display items in an encoded format, comprising: providing a plurality of compressed display items to be merged, the compressed display items comprising compressed rasterized line work, contone objects that are to be combine to produce a final merged output for an imaging system; defining a target item having a target area, the target area being defined by a boundary that extends from a leftmost pixel of a leftmost display item of the plurality of compressed display items to a rightmost pixel of a rightmost display item of the plurality of compressed display items; decompresssing each of the plurality of compressed display items to form tokens; assigning each of the plurality of decompressed display items a priority; examining the decompressed display items based on the assigned item priority; aligning each of the decompressed display items relative to the n pixel boundaries within the target area; merging the decompressed display items in the target area to produce the final merged output for an imaging system according to item priority and pixel control data to produce the target item, the target item representative of the merged plurality of display items; and re-compressing the merged display items to produce the final merged output for an imaging system.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the display items comprises at least some of repeat data, pass-thru data, an end of scan code, and an end of block code.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein examining the display items comprises skipping data at particular locations of lower priority display items when corresponding locations of higher priority display items are non-transparent.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the decompressed display items being merged comprise up to five ranges within the target area, the five ranges comprising left padding of multiples of n pixels, a transition defined across n pixels from the padding to the display item to be merged, mid-object pixels, a transition defined across n pixels within a target area from the display item to be merged to right padding, and right padding of multiples of n pixels.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tokens represent counts of repeated data or pointers to pass-thru data associated with the decompressed display items to be merged.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tokenized display items are prioritized to define an arrangement of overlaying display items and underlying display items, wherein the tokens are modified into smaller tokens by underlying display items depending on tokens found in an overlaying item.
7. A system for merging display items in an encoded format, comprising: a memory for storing a plurality of compressed display items to be merged, the compressed display items, the memory being further configured to define a target item having a target area, the target area being defined by a boundary that extends from a leftmost pixel of a leftmost compressed display item of the plurality of compressed display items to a rightmost pixel of a rightmost compressed display item of the plurality of compressed display items; and a processor, coupled to the memory, for decompresssing each of the plurality of compressed display items to form tokens, assigning each of the plurality of decompressed display items a priority, examining the decompressed display items on the basis of the assigned item priority, aligning each of the decompressed display items relative to the n pixel boundaries within the target area, merging the decompressed display items in the target area to produce the final merged output for an imaging system according to item priority and pixel control data to produce the target item, the target item representative of the merged plurality of display items and re-compressing the merged display items to produce the final merged output for an imaging system.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the display items comprises at least some of repeat data, pass-thru data, an end of scan code, and an end of block code.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the processor examines the display items by skipping data at particular locations of lower priority display items when corresponding locations of higher priority display items are non-transparent.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the decompressed display items being merged comprise up to five ranges within the target area, the five ranges comprising left padding of multiples of n pixels, a transition defined across n pixels from the padding to the display item to be merged, mid-object pixels, a transition defined across n pixels within a target area from the display item to be merged to right padding, and right padding of multiples of n pixels.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the tokens represent counts of repeated data or pointers to pass-thru data associated with the decompressed display items to be merged.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the processor prioritized the tokenized display items to define an arrangement of overlaying display items and underlying display items, wherein the tokens are modified into smaller tokens by underlying display items depending on tokens found in an overlaying item.
13. A computer readable medium having encoded thereon computer readable instructions for merging display items in an encoded format, the processor-readable instructions causing a processor to perform operations, comprising: providing a plurality of compressed display items to be merged, the compressed display items comprising compressed rasterized line work, contone objects that are to be combine to produce a final merged output for an imaging system; defining a target item having a target area, the target area being defined by a boundary that extends from a leftmost pixel of a leftmost display item of the plurality of compressed display items to a rightmost pixel of a rightmost display item of the plurality of compressed display items; decompresssing each of the plurality of compressed display items to form tokens; assigning each of the plurality of decompressed display items a priority; examining the decompressed display items based on the assigned item priority; aligning each of the decompressed display items relative to the n pixel boundaries within the target area; merging the decompressed display items in the target area to produce the final merged output for an imaging system according to item priority and pixel control data to produce the target item, the target item representative of the merged plurality of display items; and re-compressing the merged display items to produce the final merged output for an imaging system.
14. The information bearing medium of claim 13 , wherein the display items comprises at least some of repeat data, pass-thru data, an end of scan code, and an end of block code.
15. The information bearing medium of claim 13 , wherein examining the display items comprises skipping data at particular locations of lower priority display items when corresponding locations of higher priority display items are non-transparent.
16. The information bearing medium of claim 13 , wherein the decompressed display items being merged comprise up to five ranges within the target area, the five ranges comprising left padding of multiples of n pixels, a transition defined across n pixels from the padding to the display item to be merged, mid-object pixels, a transition defined across n pixels within a target area from the display item to be merged to right padding, and right padding of multiples of n pixels.
17. The information bearing medium of claim 13 , wherein the tokens represent counts of repeated data or pointers to pass-thru data associated with the decompressed display items to be merged.
18. The information bearing medium of claim 13 , wherein the tokenized display items are prioritized to define an arrangement of overlaying display items and underlying display items, wherein the tokens are modified into smaller tokens by underlying display items depending on tokens found in an overlaying item.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 15, 2001
January 23, 2007
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